Nick Clegg called time on “excessive and irresponsible” executive pay
yesterday as he warned George Osborne,the Chancellor, to balance the pain of
public-sector cuts with curbs on private companies.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that he was determined to break open the “old
boys’ network” of pay committees that award top executives high salaries.
The aim would be to prevent people getting excessive payments even when
their companies were faring poorly and millions of people were struggling to
make ends meet.

Employees could be given a say in their bosses’ pay deals and shareholders
could be given a veto under